hacking in the Database
by Xavon Wrentaile
Summary: Kite and BlackRose (.HACK) and Kirito and Asuna (SAO) attempt to find the missing players of Elder Tale (Log Horizon) only to end up in said game themselves.
1. INTERFACE INSTALLATION

**|INTERFACE INSTALLATION|**

It started, for Kirigaya Kazuto, like so many things had recently, when he received and email from Kikuoka Seijirou. It asked him to come to the usual table, at the usual restaurant, at a certain date and time. What was different was that Asuna received the same request. Seijirou generally respected his request to keep the young woman out of their business. She worried, she did not need the money, her parents could make things problematic for both of them; the young man had a laundry list of reasonable excuses. Though he suspected the government agent agreed mainly because it was easier than arguing.

The young couple decided to meet up first and travel to the cafe together.

"What do you think it is?"Asuna asked her boyfriend softly, not wanting the taxi driver to hear them.

"I don't know," he replied, "Since he asked for both of us, maybe something to do with one of the Sleeping Knights? Or RECT Inc?"

She knew about his deal with the Virtual Division, to keep her out of the loop, and was torn. She liked that he wanted to protect her, but was frequently annoyed that that meant she was left in the dark and unable to help him. At the same time, given she still sometimes clashed with her mother, she could not argue too much.

The deal was obviously reflected in his suggestions, that she would not have been called if their was not already a link. She felt her ire growing, but forced it back down at the worry on his face.

"I haven't heard anything from Siune-san or my parents," she answered, and then could not resist the urge to rub it in, "But since I would have been left out of the loop otherwise, you could be right."

He looked mildly chagrined, but as the cab rounded a corner and the restaurant came into view, they settled into a thoughtful silence, both thinking that they would find out soon enough.

Inside, they started towards the regular table, but paused when they saw an unfamiliar couple sitting there. Kazuto and Asuna started looking around for Kikuoka, but they did not see the agent. Instead the man at their table caught their attention and waved them over.

They were a few years older than the teens, appearing to be in their late twenties. As they stood to meet the younger duo, they were both the same height, splitting the difference between Kirito's and Asuna's heights. The woman had short hair, a few shades darker than Asuna's chestnut locks. She was slimmer, too; if Asuna had the build of a swimsuit model, than the other woman looked like a professional athlete. She was cute, with a button nose, soft grey eyes, and thin lips, but Kazuto didn't think she was quite as beautiful as his girl. The man had black hair, longer than Kazuto's or the woman's, and a softer build than Kirigaya. He looked like an officer worker who kept in shape, compared to the sharper lines of the practicing swordsman.

"Kirigaya-san, Yuki-san, thank you for coming," the man said stiffly and gestured for them to sit. As they sat down again, Asuna noticed the casual ease with which their hands touched, and that each was wearing a wedding band.

"Of course," Kazuto answered with typical Japanese politeness, while Asuna inclined her head. There was a moment of pause, as if each side was waiting for the other. Then the man spoke.

"Tell me, what do you know about Elder Tale," he requested.

"Elder Tale, the oldest active MMORPG," Kazuto relaxed, falling into his element, "It has been online for almost twenty years, and has had twelve expansions. Used the Half GAIA project to create a half scale version of this world for its map."

"Wait, twenty years," Asuna frowned, "That would mean..."

"Elder Tale also has the distinction of being the only online game to survive Pluto's Kiss," the other woman confirmed. Asuna still looked uncertain, so Kazuto continued.

"Elder Tale was a multiple platform game, on the old Windows, Apple, and Unix and even the Xbox 360 game system," Kirito said, and the other man gave him an approving look, "But at the time they were working on versions for the PS3 release, Wii Release, and even ALTIMIT OS. That is how it survived, Atharva Inc. had already converted half of their servers to ALTIMIT. They were able to get the Wii and PS3 versions out, and offered existing customers a free copy."

"But I thought The World was the first MMO after Pluto's Kiss," Asuna protested.

"It was, from a certain point of view," the man explained, "It was the first new MMO, and it was the first one for PCs. Atharva focused on the PS3 and Wii versions, so the ALTIMIT version didn't come out until after The World. And The World garnered more attention, due to its use of the FMD."

"But Elder Tale did fine," Kazuto added, "Plenty of people could not afford an FMD. And then there was the comas not long after The World was released."

Both of the adults flinched, which both of the teens noticed.

"And Elder Tale is still around, while The World shut down, so they must have done something right," the younger man said, watching them closely.

"Did you ever play either game, Kazuto?" Asuna asked innocently, knowing him well enough to see what he was doing.

"I never played Elder Tales," he admitted, "I was more interested in newer tech. Using a monitor and keyboard just didn't appeal to me. I did play The World R2 briefly before it shut down. I wasn't terribly impressed with the FMD. And that was right around the time they announced the NerveGear and... well..."

"Why did The World shut down?" the younger woman prompted her lover.

"With every new release, a few people fell into comas," Kazuto shook his head in dismay, "And people began to be to afraid to upgrade. Of course, that's if you don't believe the urban legends."

Their hosts frowned at that.

"Urban legends?"

Kazuto could hear the false innocence in Asuna's voice, but was sure if the adults did. Either way, he repressed his grin and nodded sagely. He was beginning to suspect that the other couple worked for CC Corp.

"Supposedly the people who went into comas were trapped in the game by the monsters, and defeating the monsters let them wake up," he explained, not sure if Asuna was aware or not. She liked to play games now, but had not before SAO, and didn't follow their history like Kazuto did.

"Which is nonsense. Sure, the FMD might have caused seizures and comas in certain people. But they weren't like the FullDive headsets we have now. And they didn't even leave the players connected to the game, so how could anything in the game effect them?"

The man was obviously annoyed by his flippancy and dismissal. But the woman looked downright angry. The teen wondered if he might have pushed them too hard.

"Who did you say you were again?" Asuna asked.

"We didn't," the woman was almost growling.

"My name is Saitou Ryusei," the man answered, "And this is my wife, Saitou Akira."

The names sounded familiar to Kirito, and as he thought about their conversation, it came to him.

"Saitou-san," he addressed the woman nervously, "Your maiden name wouldn't happen to be Hayami, would it?"

She nodded smugly.

"Holy..." Kazuto barely cut himself off, "You're the dot Hackers."

"Kirito," Asuna prompted, falling back to his online name in her surprise.

"Is it true?" the young man asked.

"Yes," Ryusei answered, "All of it."

Kazuto's mind raced, and he realized the legends might be an exaggeration, not unlike some of the stories growing out of his own experiences. He had heard about using colors and images to treat some conditions. If the game's displays put people into a coma, maybe defeating certain monsters had released some sort of counter code. Show it to the people in the comas and they wake up.

"The dot Hackers were a group of gamers who saved the players put into comas by The World," Kirigaya explained in awe, "led by Kite and BlackRose, they defied CC Corp to rescue everyone."

"That sounds like us," Asuna said, understanding filling her voice.

"So, what is this about Elder Tale," Kazuto asked, his expression darkening, now that the connection was made. He remembered their initial question and came to one obvious conclusion. Now he just needed confirmation.

"Two months ago the new expansion was released," Akira said, her expression matching his, "Within one hour, 707,814 players worldwide had logged in. And at the one hour mark, 191,288 vanished."

"Vanished," Kazuto could not believe what he was hearing. Ryusei took out his smart phone, and showed them a video clip. It showed a young woman facing her computer. In the background, they could see a mirror showing a game on the monitor. Then the screen flashed bright enough that the camera was burned out for few frames. And when it came back, she was gone.

"The video hasn't been edited," Akira told them, "And we have over a hundred of them."

"At the same time, Atharva lost control of a third of their servers," her husband continued, "And that's the physical servers, each of the 13 servers that make of the Elder Tale is actually a bank of twenty-four physical devices, of which eight on each server are now operating outside of Atharva's control. And everyone who logs in goes on to the servers that are still under the company's control."

"You can't mean..." Asuna sounded incredulous.

"We don't know," Akira seemed to agree with the younger woman, "People's minds getting trapped in a game through a headset is one thing. Literally getting sucked into their monitors is..."

"Either way, that many players disappearing at the same as the company loses control of the servers can't be a coincidence," Kazuto mused.

"How have we not heard about this?" Asuna asked, "It's twenty times as many people were trapped in SAO."

"But with SAO, your bodies were left behind, and Kayaba announced what was happening to the media. Nothing like that has happened here."

"So what are you going to do?" Asuna asked.

"We are friends with some of the best white hats and grey hats in the world," Akira said, "They haven't been able to take control of the servers, but they have been able to find a way for us to log in to those servers instead of getting directed to the normal ones."

"And you want us to go with you," Kirito said, a hint of sharpness in his voice.

"No," Ryusei hissed angrily, "We want both of you to go back to your school. We want you to graduate and complete your VR probe so people in a MediCuboid and AIs can interact with the rest of the world..."

Both teens started; other than a handful of friends, Yui's existence was supposed to be a secret.

"… and you to take over your parents' company so you can help him."

Kite forced himself to sigh, noticing some of the people around them were looking.

"But the government doesn't trust us. They trust you. Or more likely, they think they can control you better. So they made us come here to ask."

"But you don't want us to help."

"No. You are both still children. And you have been through more than us, without being given a choice."

"Doesn't that make us more qualified?"

"Since you haven't even played Elder Tale, and we don't know what we will find when we log in; no, it doesn't."

Asuna and Akira shared a look. The look that only women can share when their significant others are being stupid.

"Would you be willing to help us?" Akira asked, "Even though we have no idea what we will find, and what the risk will be? We could literally end up in another world with no way home."

"You two are going to do it, aren't you?" Asuna asked softly.

"Yeah, but the thing is," Akira offered sadly, "we have friends who were playing Elder Tale and vanished. And the two of us never have been able to turn down a friend in need."

"This happens to your friends a lot?" the younger woman was confused again, "And they ask you to rescue them?"

"They never ask," Ryusei returned his attention back to the girls with a melancholy sigh, "more like screaming at us to save ourselves."

Asuna glared at Kazuto in affectionate annoyance at that. And Akira had her own glare for her husband.

"We can't let them help," Kite insisted.

"We had to ask them," she reminded him, "Now, if we don't let them help, all they have to do is go to Virtual Division. At best, they'll be helping us anyway. At worst, VD will try to stop us, and send them in anyway."

"But they..."

"Are two years older than we were during the Cursed Wave," Akira interrupted, already knowing what he meant to say, "And both are expert swordsmen."

"They haven't actually agreed yet," Ryusei's protest was weak, "They are just arguing because we said they can't."

Both of the teens just smirked. And Ryusei just sighed in defeat.

'Fine," he took out a business card and handed it to Kazuto, "If you insist, then meet us here tomorrow at 9 am."


	2. CHARACTER CREATION

**|CHARACTER CREATION|**

The building Kazuto and Asuna arrived was not exactly your average office space. Three stories tall, there were no windows on the first floor, except the reinforced windows in the door. The next two levels had small openings covered with a mirrored substance the young woman assumed was one-way glass. The door bore the roman letters "QED" in a simple, bold font. The door did not have any sort of handle, tthough there was a card swiper and buzzer next to it. Pressing the buzzer had done nothing.

They had arrived seventeen minutes early, but had not expected to have to wait outside. Though it was still early, it was already starting to get warm. Both of the teens had dressed more conservatively than usual, as they were essentially having a business meeting at a company.

At five to nine, their hosts rounded the corner. Akira looked surprised, and then bothered, while Ryusei merely shook his head with a small smile.

"I apologize," the older man told them, "I hope we did not make you wait long."

"Not too long," Kazuto said politely.

"QED?" Asuna changed the subject, "Quod Erat Demonstrandum?"

"That is the reference," Akira acknowledged with a twisted grin, "Officially it is short for 'Query Every Database'."

Ryusei could not hold back a small chuckle, and the younger couple looked confused.

"Are we missing something?" Asuna prompted.

"Unofficially, it means Queen of Every Darkness'," the older woman said, again giving the name in English. Ryusei sighed, but he still looked amused.

"Our boss hates that name," he said, as he took a plastic card out of his wallet. Kazuto noted that it was not just a normal quantum strip card, but that it had what appeared to be touch panels opposite the strip. And said strip was dual sided. As if to validate Kirito's observation, Kite arranged his thumb and first two fingers carefully on the ID, before running it through the reader. Which in turn beeped obligingly, and the door slid back into the wall. Ryusei gestured for the others to enter before following them.

Inside, it looked surprisingly normal. The reception area had a pair of comfortable chairs on either side of the entryway, which fed them towards a large built in desk. On the wall behind it was the QED logo, and on either side were doors leading further into the office.

Seated at the desk was quite possibly the most beautiful woman Kazuto and Asuna had ever seen in real life. Her golden blonde hair cascaded down in past her shoulders in loose waves. Her kind blue eyes regarded them with casual joy, as if truly happy to see them. Her body shape was similar to Asuna's, though slightly larger in the bust. She wore a fitted business suit that looked like it cost more than all the clothing the two couples were wearing, combined.

"I apologize for not letting you in, Yuuki-san, Kirigaya-san," she said in a high clear voice, "But I was instructed not to allow you on premises until Kite and BlackRose arrived."

"Are none of you going to introduce yourselves?" Asuna sounded put out by the bypassing of Japanese traditional first meeting etiquette.

"So sorry," this time the woman behind the desk looked flustered, "I am Terashima Ryoko. It is my pleasure to meet you, please take care of me."

They murmured back similar platitudes, while Akira smiled at Ryoko. While the two adult women exchanged greetings, Ryusei addressed the younger duo.

"I will warn you, that from here on, everyone will be using an alias," he explained, "They are cautious about trusting, even with your reputations. It isn't meant as an insult."

"What about Terashima-san?" Kazuto frowned slightly.

"Ryoko-chan is the 'Local Public Face of QED, providing both Receptionist and Customer Interface services'," Akira sounded like she was reading from a script, but looked amused as she said it.

"I don't get a code name," Ryoko blushed slightly and looked away from the newcomers.

"It's a long story," Kite shook his head at his wife for needling their friend and coworker.

"It's not that long," Akira could not resist the urge to poke fun at her former rival, "She signed up for The World using her real name, so that became her code name, too."

"Come on, we will introduce you to the others," Ryusei insisted, before Ryoko could escalate. He had been through it enough times already. Still, Ryoko and Akira would not have bantered back and forth in front of just anyone, so he took that as a good sign for the younger pair. And then had to remind himself that he did not really want them there.

If there reception area looked like a proper business environment, the huge, open room behind it dispelled the impression. In the center was a large table, one that would not have been out of place in a high powered conference room, with a matching roller chairs for twenty people. But on the walls of the room were sixteen, 70 inch HD TVs. And between each TV and the conference table was a single person recliner or love seat. The casual chairs were a mishmash of styles and colors, making it look more like a fraternity from a movie than a business.

There were seven other people in the room; four women and three men, most in business casual attire, though one woman had a suit that put Ryoko's to shame, and another had on sneakers, jean shorts, and a Doctor Who t-shirt. Oddly enough, the last girl looked familiar to Kirito, and she noticed him staring.

"Come on, Kii-bou, you can do it," she encouraged him.

"Argo?" hearing the nickname, Asuna was the one who got it first.

"Bingo," the casually attired girl nodded broadly. She started to say something, but Asuna did a double take and walked to the oldest man.

"Excuse me," she said hesitantly, "You wouldn't happen to be Sakuma Ryo-sensei, would you?"

"Well, it looks like Bear has a fan," one of the other women said. She was the only one wearing a dress, and easily had the largest chest of anyone in the room.

"Stow it, Pi," the woman standing next to the writer, the one in the most expensive outfit, said sharply.

"Yes, that is correct," he admitted, "How did you know?"

"My mother is a fan," the girl explained, "She has a picture of herself with you, from one of your book signings."

"Ah, then you aren't a fan," he sounded only mildly disappointed.

"I have read a few of your books, and I did enjoy them," Asuna said quickly, then added more thoughtfully, "But why are you here? Isn't this like a hacker group?"

"My wife and daughter both work for QED. And it seems I have some talent as an investigator, so I sometimes do some work for them. Though this time is different."

"That would make you Sakuma Machiko?" Asuna said to the woman who defended him.

"Correct, I am the 'Remote Public Face of QED," the former model agreed.

"What does that mean?" Kazuto asked, "Is that like Terashima-san?"

"Ryoko-chan interacts with customers who come here," Machiko agreed, "And I go out to meet customers in the field."

"And with that, it sound like we should get to introductions," Akira interrupted.

"So, you apparently know about Bear, out part time investigator, and his wife BT, who does public relations," Ryusei explained, "And we knew you knew Argo, our newest investigator and apprentice hacker. And the snarker is Pi, a former CC Corp programmer."

The indicated woman nodded, her lips still turned up.

"And this is Wiseman," Ryusei indicated the youngest man of their group, looking only a few years older than Kazuto and Asuna. He was slender, and tall for a Japanese native. And he gave the teens a knowing look, which in turn made Argo smirk.

"He was part of our original group, and then worked for CC Corps as well," Kite continued.

"Finally we have our president, Helba," the last woman was also blonde and curvaceous, but unlike the rest, she was of European descent.

"And her husband, and another former CC employee, Lios. We have five other members, but three of them are out on a job, and the last two…."

"The last two are some of the missing Elder Tale players," Kazuto deduced, "And one of them is Saku… Bear's daughter."

"That's right," Akira confirmed sadly, and everyone's faces dropped, "Four of our friends…"

"Five," Lios interjected, "We just learned this morning that Alkaid is also among to vanished players."

Kite sighed, "Did anyone let Haseo and Atoli know?"

"They were the ones who told us," Pi answered.

"All the more reason to get to work," the woman called Helba finally spoke, "Over here."

She led them to bank of TVs on the right side of the room.

"We set up an internal duplicate of the Elder Tale's Yamato server," she explained, "You will design your characters here, and can use the server to get a feel for the system."

"We _borrowed_ a feature from Atharva's beta test servers," Wiseman followed them over, "So you will be able to start at level 70 with any of the crafting or role-playing subclasses. Unfortunately, the system rejected it when we tried to insert characters at a higher level than that, or if we assigned a character one of the advanced subclasses. That said, we will be able to give you equipment better than you would normally get with advanced test characters."

"We also went ahead and inserted your character models, but you can tweak them if you like," Helba added, backing away.

Ryusei and Akira settled into two of the chairs, and reached down beside to retrieve a keyboard and mouse without even looking.

"I thought Kite was your boss," Kirito said softly to Wiseman. The other man smiled and nodded.

"Kite was the hero and our field commander, but Helba was and is our general," he explained, "she was a master hacker when I was still learning. And she had access to information vital to our… quest. She started QED with Lios while most of us were still in high school and college. It is her company."

He trailed off, but watched them expectantly.

"Why are you looking at us like that?" Asuna asked, mildly uncomfortable by his attention. If he had been focused on her exclusively, she would have known how to deal with it.

"I suppose I should not expect you to remember me," he said, "I only met Kirito twice and you once, and both times were in passing. I should not expect you two to remember me out of the six thousand or so random faces."

"You are an SAO survivor," Kirito tried not to gape.

"Yes," Wiseman nodded, "I was one of those trapped in Kayaba's little petri dish. That man might not have been quite as brilliant Harald, but he made up for it with his brazenness."

"You met us in SAO?" Kirito tried to remember his face.

"We crossed paths in a dungeon on the 34th floor," Wiseman recalled, "you warned me about a pit trap. And I was there when you caught the 'Big One'. I hoped it would be an interesting event, but in the end it did not advance my understanding of the game."

"Your understanding of the game?" Asuna parroted in confusion.

"I was not particularly interested in SAO as a game," he explained, "I prefer more of a long-range support role. The lack of magic or projectiles made that difficult. I was more interested in the technology behind the game. So instead of participating in the front lines, I grinded until I had sufficient survivability, and then I explored the more unusual quests and bugs on floors 28 to 36. We were actually starting to make some headway on the game's security when you went and rendered it all moot."

"We?" both exclaimed at the same time.

"My friends decided they weren't going to let me stay trapped in a death game," Wiseman sounded somewhat embarrassed, "It took Helba, Lios, and Pi nineteen months, but they were able to crack part of Kayaba's security. They were not able to get anyone out, but they were able to send someone in."

Kazuto immediately looked over his shoulder, to where Kite and BlackRose were also holding a whispered conversation, BlackRose already working on her character.

"Them?" he hissed in surprise.

"Yes, for the last five months, they were part of that world. They never caught up in levels enough to join the front lines, but they helped me with my research. We were making some good strides on attacking SAO's security for the inside, when you defeated Heathcliff and ended the game."

"But they weren't listed," Kirito objected. Wiseman only raised an eyebrow, and the younger man spread his hands in defeat.

"Okay, but I would have remembered if someone was reported as hacking into SAO."

"They weren't," Wiseman shook his head, "Helba and the others cared for them here; another of our old team is a medical doctor. And we never advertised it for obvious reasons. Ultimately, we did nothing to resolve the issue, and we did not think certain parties would appreciate our actions."

The teens nodded. News that someone could and did jump into SAO would have caused chaos, both in game and out. Not to mention what Heathcliff might have done to the invaders.

"So it should come as no surprise that those two are ready, willing, and able to take this risk. And why they don't want you two going in, just because the government wants you to."

"Are there any SAO survivors?" Asuna raised her voice slightly, bring the rest of the room into their conversation, "Are any of _our_ people among those who vanished?"

For a few seconds nobody answered. Then Argo took a step close.

"Yeah," the other young woman confirmed, "We have confirmed seventy two SAO survivors are among the missing Elder Tale players. Including Thinker and Yulier. Even though MMO Tomorrow usually focuses on VR games, they were going to do a special on the new release of the oldest active MMORPG."

"Then we have a reason to go in," Kirito said, "We saved their lives, back in SAO. Directly, not like everyone else."

He let go unsaid the philosophy that, if you saved a person's life, you were responsible for that person. Across the room Bear nodded, familiar with the sentiment; it was how he got his daughter.

"Then you better get to work," Wiseman told them. They took the chairs next to Kite and BlackRose. They logged into the game, not commenting on how they already had accounts set up with their normal user names and passwords. Once they were connected, they were funneled directly into the character creation screen, where avatars matching their physical appearances stared back. Glancing over, they saw that BlackRose's character looked nothing like Akira.

BlackRose was taller than Akira, though of a similar build. She had deeply tanned skin and short, spikey, pink hair. BlackRose's eyes and nose were also a little sharper, and said eyes were deep red.

Since Akira and Ryusei were still whispering, Kazuto and Asuna began to focus on their own avatars. The pulled up the net browser, and began to look up the classes, sub classes, skills, and recommended builds in Elder Tale.

"What are you thinking?" Kazuto asked his lover.

"Swashbuckler," she said, "With a rapier and buckler, I should be able to combine aspects of the Fencer and Gladiator builds. Although…"

She hit a toggle, and her avatar's ears extended by about five inches.

"And chef for your Sub class," he prompted with a small grin.

"Only if you take Fisherman," she shot back, "Are you planning to make a Sword Dancer Assassin?"

"That seems like the best dual weapon build," he agreed.

"We'll have lots of swords, then," Akira told them, "Since I'm going Paladin."

"Paladin's not on the list," Asuna frowned.

"It is on the European server," BlackRose explained, "They have that instead of Samurai. And thanks to our friends, we can actually create characters from any of the alternate classes on the other servers. I'm thinking with a good pair of equipment load outs I can manage both Vanguard and Champion builds."

A quick search revealed that the Vanguard used broad swipes of a two-handed sword to draw lots of aggro from multiple enemies, while the Champion could force one enemy to only attack the Paladin so long as the Paladin did the same.

"So we have a melee DPS," Ryusei looked at Kazuto, "A melee DPS with some tanks skills, and a melee focused tank."

"So are you going to make a dual weapon fighter as well?" Kazuto asked, remembering what he had read about the original Kite PC.

"After a fashion," the older man smiled, "We need a healer, so I am looking at the Twin Shield Cleric build. With the Tracker sub class I can avoid agro and keep an eye on the mobs."

"You, playing support?" Akira teased her husband.

"I always did when we didn't have a WaveMaster," he reminded her, "And even if we did, and she was Mistral. And the reason they set up this server for us is not just so we can practice the game, but so we can test our teamwork and party dynamics. If it doesn't work then I can switch to a Bard or something."

It turned out their party dynamics worked fine. The switching technique Kirito and Asuna learned in SAO helped them manage each other's' skill cool downs, without stealing aggro from BlackRose. Kite was able to keep them healthy and call out the monsters positions. They had a little trouble with some physical resistant monsters, but the Paladin and Cleric had buff to get them through the fight.

So they logged out, and handed the system over to QED to move their characters over and hack them some better items. Before he sat down, Wiseman stopped Ryusei.

"You need to go in back. _She_ is here. She wants to talk to you first. Helba is already in with her."

"Okay," Ryusei nodded. Then he looked Kazuto and Asuna, and said, "We will be back shortly."

"Actually," Wiseman interrupted, "She wants to see them, too."

Both Saitous looked surprised.

"Alright, then I guess you two should come with us."


End file.
